The main thesis of Murderball is to convey that individuals with disabilities are very much capable of living fulfilling lives. It is also to share with the viewers that the negative stigma that society imposes on people with disabilities does not have any validity.
The film is a documentary that fallows a few different people that are wheelchair bound. The only thing different about these people is that they are not the type of people in wheelchairs that society portrays. They all play wheelchair rugby which is a very physical sport that many able bodies people couldn't even do. The main arguments that supported the thesis were the countless interviews with the men on the rugby team. They were content with their lives and some of them even said that they wouldn't want to go back to being able bodied. They film portrayed them as normal people. They had jobs, the had relationships and they had struggles.
In Erich Goode's piece, " The Stigma of Obesity" the author begins by describing a situation where Bertha, an overweight woman got stuck in a fast food restaurant's booth after she finished her meal. The incident resulted in her breaking the booth to get free while everyone in the restaurant broke out in hysterical laughter. Murderball deals with the stigmatization of deviant individuals and similar to the situation involving Bertha, people in wheelchairs have to deal with negative stigmas everywhere they go. This class evaluates those stigmas and provides a different view under a "sociological telescope." The movie did a good job of explaining that it doesn't matter what makes someone deviant, they are still people with hopes, dreams and ambitions like the rest of us and I think that the purpose of this class is to do the same. That is how the movie and class relate.
During the movie, one of Mark Zupan's friends commented on how Mark was an asshole before he got in a wheelchair. I found this to be the most convincing argument because it showed, in very simple terms, that people in wheelchairs are human beings above all else. society tends to view them for their master status of being in a wheelchair but at the end of the day we are all the same and it is unfortunate that we view each other in any other way.
I didn't really notice arguments that were less convincing however I think that the documentary could have done a better job at showing how society treats people with disabilities. It seems like the entire documentary focused more on the struggles of the rugby team than the struggles of living in a society that doesn't see you as normal. In the video, "Height and the Perception of Success" it is clear that the taller man seems more successful. I think that the same is true with people in wheelchairs. They are always going to be perceived as less successful than people that aren't in wheelchairs. I don't think the documentary did a good job talking about that harsh reality.
The movie talked about the process of coming to terms with the realities of being in a wheelchair. It would be interesting to design a longitudinal study around the idea of being in a wheelchair. A researcher could fallow individuals from the time that they become wheelchair bound to the time that they are comfortable with the idea of being in a wheelchair. It is important to note that some people may never get comfortable with the idea but the study would find the average amount of time it takes someone to accept the fact that they are in a wheelchair. It would also uncover the different coping techniques to transitioning from being "normal" to "deviant"
References
Film-Murderball
Book-Readings in Deviant Behavior
Video Clip-Height and the Perception of Success
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